On February 24, 2005, Essa, who was en-route to a movie theater, collapsed behind the wheel of her SUV, swerved and bumped into a passing van.
She became a nurse at the now-defunct Mount Sinai Hospital where she met Yazeed Essa, an ER doctor and businessman, in 1995.
Rosemarie was described by her family as an extremely loving mother, and that the couple seemed to be happy and planning for a third child.
While driving to the theater, Essa began to feel sick and called a friend, Eva McGregor, telling her that she suspected her illness was due to the calcium pill.
When first responders arrived at the scene, Essa was nearly unconscious and began vomiting in the car before losing consciousness.
Later, an email sent by him informing others of his wife's death read simply "Just wanted to let you know that Rosie died yesterday in a minor car accident.
[1] McGregor later told a fellow nurse, Christine DiCillo, who called in a tip to the police, who had already begun investigating Essa's death as suspicious.
Yazeed explained that he had given Essa calcium pills, saying, "Two weeks before I was over at my mom's house, and I thought about this as well.
[3] After fleeing, Essa traveled first to Detroit, then into Toronto, Canada, where he flew to Heathrow, before flying to Cyprus and then to Beirut, Lebanon.
On March 8, 2010, Yazeed was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for 20 years.